This Simple Calculator Does Your Taxes in 30 Seconds

That's the time it takes to say you don't have time

February 15, 2017 9:00 am

“Okay, Marge, if anyone asks: You require 24-hour nursing care, Lisa’s a clergyman, Maggie is seven people, and Bart was wounded in Vietnam.” — Homer Simpson, doing last-minute taxes

First, don’t do your taxes last minute.

Second, if you want to know how much you’ll owe (or, fingers crossed, get back), you can start now, via Nerdwallet’s Federal Tax Calculator.

It’s pretty straight-forward: Enter your filing status, household income, age, number of dependents, retirement account contributions/deductions (the standard deduction is pre-filled) and taxes you’ve already paid or withheld.

It takes about 30 seconds to do, and should give a very basic overview of your taxes. Admittedly, it doesn’t take into account itemized deductions — like, say, clergyman status.

One last bit of advice: Go to an accountant. As mine told me years ago, “When you’re sick, you go to a doctor, right? When you have taxes, you go to an accountant.”

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